Cette thèse traite du problème de la façon de prendre des décisions impliquant à la fois la temporisation et l'information ambiguë. Cette thèse se compose de trois chapitres. Le chapitre 1 passe en revue une série d'études sur l'influence de l'ambiguïté et de la temporisation sur la prise de décision individuelle, et soulève deux questions de recherche de la thèse actuelle: 1) Est-ce que les préférences d'ambiguïté des décideurs sont différentes pour les perspectives résolues dans le présent et l'avenir? et 2) Est-ce que les préférences temporelles de décideurs diffèrent sous les récompenses ambiguës et non ambiguës? Les chapitres 2 et 3 sont deux essais indépendants qui traitent de ces deux questions, respectivement. Le premier essai examine les préférences d'ambiguïté sous la résolution actuelle et retardée à travers les probabilités basses et hautes. Les résultats des trois études montrent un effet d'interaction entre le temps de résolution et le niveau de probabilité. Sous résolution immédiate, nous constatons que les individus présentent l'aversion d'ambiguïté à des probabilités élevées et ambiguïté-recherche faible, ou l'indifférence à faibles probabilités, cohérentes avec la littérature antérieure. Toutefois, la résolution future régresse aversion et de comportement de recherché à la neutralité. S’appuyant sur la théorie du niveau de construal et la théorie de double-processus, nous attribuons cet effet d'interaction à la différence de styles de traitement pour les perspectives présentes et futures. Le deuxième essai démontre l'impact de récompenses futures ambigus sur les préférences intertemporelles. Six études montrent que, malgré le fait que les récompenses ambiguës et retardées sont généralement detestés séparément, ensemble, elles produisent un effet positif. C'est-à-dire que, les récompenses ambiguës futures sont plus susceptibles d'être préférés que les récompenses précises (avec les valeurs attendues égales) dans la prise de decision intertemporelle. Nous proposons l'hypothèse de l’eclipse (overshadowing) pour expliquer cet effet et excluons trois autres possibilités. Enfin, nous établissons des conditions aux limites en examinant systématiquement si l'effet persiste à différents niveaux d'ambiguïté et de points de temps. / This dissertation addresses the issue of how to make decisions involving both time delay and ambiguous information. This dissertation is arranged into three chapters. Chapter 1 reviews a set of studies on the influence of ambiguity and time delay on individual decision making and raises two relevant research questions: (1) Are decision makers' ambiguity preferences different for prospects resolved in the present and the future?; and (2) Do decision makers' time preferences differ under ambiguous and unambiguous payoffs? Chapter 2 and 3 are two independent essays, each addressing one of the above questions. The first essay examines ambiguity preferences under present and delayed resolutions across low and high probabilities. Results of three studies show an interaction effect between resolution time and probability level. Under the immediate resolution, we find that individuals exhibit ambiguity aversion at high probabilities and weak ambiguity seeking or indifference at low probabilities, consistent with prior literature. However, delayed resolution regresses aversion and seeking behaviors to neutrality. Drawing on the construal level theory and the dual-process theory, we attribute this interaction effect to the difference in processing styles for present and future prospects. The second essay demonstrates the impact of ambiguous future payoffs on intertemporal preferences. Six studies show that, despite the fact that ambiguous and delayed payoffs are generally disliked separately, together they produce a positive effect. That is, ambiguous future payoffs are more likely to be preferred than precise payoffs (with equal expected values) in intertemporal decision-making. We propose the overshadowing hypothesis to explain this effect and rule out three other possibilities. Finally, we establish boundary conditions by systematically examining whether the effect persists at various ambiguity levels and time points.

In 1979 Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky created the prospect theory. It became an accepted and appropriate theory in explaining decision making under risk. The prospect theory has been one of the most cited articles in economics and Kahneman received the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences as a result of the creation and development of the theory. Therefore the prospect theory is considered to be more suitable compared to the previously accepted theory, the expected utility theory. Following the prospect theory, researchers have utilized it to describe individual but also corporate management decision making when faced with risk. In this thesis the authors will focus on the latter. Despite the prospect theory being a well-accepted theory, there have been several critics due to its limitations and Audia and Greve (2006) are one of these critics. Their study suggested that corporations under threat, i.e. small firms with low returns, act risk averse. The findings of Audia and Greve (2006) violate the prospect theory when considering small firms that have below target returns. They tested the theory on an industry that has the characteristics of having relatively high proportions of tangible assets. Audia and Greve (2006) also proposed that a similar conclusion could be drawn if tested on an industry characterized by having a high level of intangible assets. This thesis examines the applicability of the prospect theory in the Swedish automotive industry and staffing and recruitment industry. The characteristics of the two industries are that the automotive industry has a high proportion of tangible assets and the staffing and recruitment industry has a high level of intangibles. The authors test if the prospect theory can be used to describe the decision making of both industries but also test the theory on small and large firms. Following the results of this paper we show that the prospect theory can be applied to the Swedish automotive industry and staffing and recruitment industry, characterized by having high levels of tangible assets and intangible assets respectively. The theory can also be used to explain decision making under risk for small firms within both industries and large firms within the automotive industry. Even though the prospect theory was originally tested on individuals, the conclusion can be drawn that the prospect theory once again prevails as an explanation of the decision making in the management of corporations. It can describe the decision making of firms in the two industries having characteristics of different asset tangibility and for firms of different size.

Abstract Purpose of research The Covid-19 was one of the catastrophic pandemics of the modern times which impacted the supply chain of businesses a lot. Textile industries were the one that got hit hard by the whole situation. During the crisis, one of the biggest exporters of textile i.e., Bangladesh was able to withstand the major impacts. This study explores what were the major decisions and strategies made by organizations to minimize these impacts. Methodology The study uses the behavioral decision theory, which is one of the qualitative research methodologies, The theory is providing us with the basic knowledge of how human reacts under certain conditions and availability of certain set of data.The behavioral decision theory becomes completely relevant because the decision was mainly affected by the fear of the pandemic. About fifteen interviews were taken from different company’s management personals, and their decision making were analyzed. Findings The major finding was that Covid-19 heavily influenced the decision making and the strategy of the managerial departments of the textile industries, which came not only in shape of exploring new destinations for imports, but also resulted salary deduction, firing of employees, and at some places improvement in overall working conditions. Where the change in behavioral decision can easily be seen. Originality The Study undertakes the Behavioral decision theory to analyze the how Bangladesh textile sector withstood the impacts of the Covid-19 and how the decisions of the management were affected by this. The study fills in the literature gap of presenting an actual on ground data, that was taken right from the source via interviews. This study would also serve as a guideline to textile companies if another pandemic or recession were to happen. / <p>The presentation was held on september 26, 2022. It was held online over zoom.</p>

In this dissertation, I propose that, post-action, people tend to be more optimistic about outcomes when their actions were based on malleable (vague) information compared to when their actions were based on unmalleable (precise) information. However, pre-action, no such difference occurs. I term this inconsistency in optimism in the pre and post-action stage, the Information Malleability Effect (IME). These actions could include the choice of a product, drawing a ball from an urn, or consumption of a food item. Prior research on ambiguity aversion has reliably documented that people are generally averse to making decisions based on malleable information. On the other hand, research on situated optimism has demonstrated that people exhibit a high level of optimism for events they consider more desirable and they distort the available information to make the desirable events seem more likely to occur. I review these two streams of literature and show that although both literatures make predictions in either the pre or the post-action stage, neither of them alone can explain the IME. I propose a theoretical framework to explain the underlying cause of the IME that combines these two streams of literature and utilizes the motivated reasoning account. Based on this framework, I posit hypotheses that are tested across a series of experiments. Experiment 1a and 1b demonstrate the IME in a between and within participant design. Experiment 2 demonstrates that interpretational flexibility of malleable information results in positive outcomes appearing more plausible and negative outcomes less plausible compared to when information is unmalleable. Experiment 3 provides support for the proposed underlying process by priming accuracy and desired goals.

Les attributs environnementaux, de plus en plus présents sur les produits de consommation, sont des attributs de croyance, renvoyant à un bien non marchand (i.e. la protection de l'environnement) et à des valeurs morales, ce qui les rend difficiles à évaluer par les consommateurs. Ce travail doctoral s'intéresse précisément à la manière dont les consommateurs utilisent un attribut environnemental (certifié ou non certifié) dans leur évaluation de produit. Cette problématique de recherche est abordée selon trois questions de recherche. La première s'intéresse à l'effet du nombre d'attributs (1 vs. 2) sur le poids associé à l'attribut environnemental. Cette question renvoie à l'étude d'un biais appelé effet d'inclusion qui est caractérisé par une insensibilité au nombre d'attributs. La deuxième question étudie le biais lié au mode d'évaluation sur le poids associé à un attribut environnemental. Les effets de deux critères du mode d'évaluation sont étudiés : le mode de réponse (monétaire vs. non monétaire) et le mode de présentation (jointe vs. séparée). La troisième prolonge l'étude du mode d'évaluation et de son effet sur le poids de l'attribut environnemental en étudiant la validité prédictive du mode d'évaluation pour estimer les préférences des consommateurs. Ces biais liés au contexte d'évaluation sont étudiés, montrés et discutés au moyen de cinq expérimentations et pour différents attributs environnementaux et stimuli. La validité prédictive du mode d'évaluation met en évidence l'intérêt d'utiliser le mode « consentement à payer ». D'un point de vue théorique, cette recherche montre l'intérêt de prendre en compte l'effet d'inclusion et le biais lié au mode d'évaluation pour des personnes intéressées par l'évaluation d'attributs environnementaux et montre également la limite potentielle à l'ajout d'un attribut environnemental sur un produit de consommation. D'un point de vue méthodologique, ce travail doctoral propose une approche permettant de comparer les poids obtenus entre les modes d'évaluation. Cette recherche suggère aux chefs de produits de prendre en compte ces caractéristiques contextuelles pour améliorer la précision de l'estimation des préférences des consommateurs pour un produit comportant un attribut environnemental. Ainsi, la valeur associée à un attribut environnemental varie lorsque cet attribut est seul sur le produit ou en présence d'un autre attribut. De même, le mode d'évaluation « consentement à payer » semble mieux prédire les préférences réelles pour un attribut environnemental que le mode d'évaluation « choix entre deux options ». / Environmental attributes are increasingly being included in consumption products. Because environmental attributes are credence attributes, they refer to a public good (i.e. environmental protection), and they reference moral values, they are difficult for consumers to assess. This doctoral research specifically focuses on how consumers use an environmental attribute (certified or uncertified) in product evaluation. This core question is addressed through three research questions. The first deals with the effect of attribute number (1 vs. 2) on the weight given to environmental attributes. This study focuses on a counterintuitive effect named the embedding effect, characterized by insensitivity to the number of environmental attributes present. The second question concerns the effect of the method of value measurement on the weight given to an environmental attribute. The effects of two criteria are studied: response mode (pricing vs. non pricing) and evaluation mode (joint vs. separate). The third and last question extends the study of evaluation measure and its effect on the weight of an environmental attribute by testing the predictive validity of the evaluation measure on consumer preferences. These research questions are investigated with five experiments that employ various environmental attributes and stimuli. From a theoretical perspective, this research shows the importance of considering the embedding effect and evaluation measurement bias for people interested in environmental attributes evaluation. It also underlines the potential limit of adding an environmental attribute to a consumption product. In terms of utility measurement, the thesis shows, counterintuitively, that willingness to pay is a better measure of environmental values than is choice. From a methodological standpoint, this doctoral thesis proposes an approach to enable attribute weight comparisons across measures. This research suggests to product managers that they need to be aware of these contextual factors when assessing and predicting consumer preferences for a product with an environmental attribute. If the environmental attribute in the finished product will be alone versus in conjunction with another environmental attribute, for example, affects attribute utility. Likewise, willingness to pay appears to be a better predictor of actual preference for environmental attribute than is choice.

The purpose of this study is to explore how IFRS 15 have influenced Swedish auditors and financial analysts’ understanding of companies’ revenue transactions. How accounting structural changes under IFRS 15 contribute to potential informational effects remains a largely unexplored topic. By applying asymmetric information theory, behavioral decision theory and the concept of uniformity versus uniqueness, this study explores potential factors that influence information intermediaries’ understandability of companies’ revenue transactions. This study uses an explorative approach consisting of 8 semi-structured interviews with Swedish auditors and financial analysts working in the telecommunication and construction industry. From a practical point of view, this study may assist the IASB and other regulators in obtaining a better understanding of information intermediaries’ ability to appropriately interpret and use financial information under IFRS 15. From a theoretical standpoint, the findings can provide areas of potential future studies in the field of accounting information research. Although the implementation of IFRS 15 has a limited quantitative accounting effect, this study finds that the implementation contributes to informational effects on financial analysts and auditors’ information environment. The findings indicate that the perceived informational effects are dependent on entities' application of the standard; intermediaries’ accounting knowledge and experience; as well as companies' transparency and manipulating incentives.

會計理論之研究應先確定會計資訊的使用者及其特性，會計人員如對決策者之決策方 法或程序未能充份瞭解，即無法確知會計資訊在決策過程中所能發揮的功能。 近年來，許多會計人員致力於個人決策行為的研究，試圖應用心理學所發展出來的行 為決策理論（Behavioral Decision Theory），提供系統化的證據，以協助對會計問 題的瞭解。 由於行為決策理論之研究尚未臻於成熟，而與之相關之會計研究亦僅限於萌芽階段， 無法取得許多實證資料做深入之研討與分析，故本文係對文獻資料之蒐集、研討、分 析之方式進行。文中首先介紹人類解決問題模式（Problem-solving Model ）、人本 資訊處理系統（Human Information Processing System ）的單元功能及其運作上的 限制，其次就以往會計學者對決策前行為（Predecisional Behavior）所作之研究予 以整理、分析，最後並對運用會計資訊改善決策品質的各種可能途逕予以探討。 全文分五章，約六、七萬字。

In der betriebswirtschaftlichen Realität werden riskante Entscheidungen meistens nach vorherigen Gewinn- oder Verlusterfahrungen getroffen und empirische Beobachtungen legen nahe, dass vorherige derartige Erfahrungen das aktuelle Risikoverhalten beeinflussen. Da dieser Umstand in den existierenden Ansätzen der normativen und deskriptiven Spieltheorie bisher jedoch nicht abgebildet wird, beschäftigt sich diese Arbeit zunächst mit der Erarbeitung der theoretischen Grundlagen für das Verhalten nach entsprechenden Erfahrungen in riskanten Entscheidungssituationen mit und ohne strategische Interaktion. Dabei wird für Einpersonenspiele das gesamte Framework der Kumulativen Prospekttheorie um einen "Aggregationsaxiom" erweitert und es werden anreizkompatible Mechanismen abgeleitet, die in zwei experimentellen Studien überprüft werden. Die Aggregationshypothese konnte dabei bestätigt werden, wenn auch die Risikowahrnehmung eher im Einklang mit normativen Ansätzen und nicht mit der Kumulativen Prospekttheorie zu stehen scheint. Für Mehrpersonenspiele wurde der klassische Ansatz um den Aggregationsaspekt, eine Auszahlungstransformation gemäß der Kumulativen Prospekttheorie und um die Annahme der Sozialen Projektion erweitert. Die Verhaltensprognosen für zwei einfache Koordinationsspiele resultieren dann insbesondere aus den beiden Verfeinerungskriterien "Risikodominanz" und "Perfektheit" der allgemeinen Gleichgewichtsauswahltheorie von Harsanyi und Selten. Die gemachten Vorhersagen konnten für die Teilnehmer (wenn auch mit überraschenden geschlechtspezifischen Unterschieden) in zwei Experimenten bestätigt werden. / In the real world, risky decisions are typically made after previous experiences, which include prior gains and losses. Although there are empirical findings suggesting an influence of such prior experiences on the subsequent behavior, normative as well as descriptive decision and game theory have not provided yet a thorough theoretical treatment of these effects. Therefore, this thesis develops first a theoretical fundament. It is based on the Cumulative Prospect Theory, which is extended by an "aggregation axiom". For single-person-games an incentive compatible mechanism to elicit true evaluations of risks is developed and finally tested in two laboratory experiments. The relevance of the aggregation axiom gets full support whereas a risk perception according to the Cumulative Prospect Theory has to be rejected. In multi-person-games the additional assumption of Social Projection has to be incooperated. Equilibrium selection according to "perfectness" and "risk dominance" are used to derive predictions, which are empirically validated in two experiments. Furthermore, gender-specific differences are observed.